The hover truck sputtered as it he outpost, barely holding together after the ambush. Ethan Walker had fought off more than his fair share of bandits during his retively short time as a merary, but this was different. The sheer coordination of the attack, their advanced ons...it all poio something bigger than random raiders. The Bck Sun Syndicate was clearly ramping up its assault on Kynara, ahan had just walked into the middle of it.

  The outpost came into view, led against the cliffs, with smoke billowing from its defeurrets. Explosions echoed across the barren ndscape, ahan could see the walls shaking uhe relentless barrage of enemy fire. This wasn't just a raid. It was aermination.

  "Iris, status oruck?" Ethan asked, steering the vehicle toward a small opening in the defenses.

  "Power reserves at critical. One more direct hit and the hover truck will be inoperable," Iris reported coolly.

  Ethan ched his jaw, but didn't waste time asking for more details. He khe situation. This close to the outpost, they could probably salvage the truck ter, if they survived.

  He smmed the vehicle to a stop he east gate, vaulting out before the dust settled. The ser pistols on his hips hummed to life as he activated them, and the psma dagger strapped to his thigh flickered with a deadly blue glow. His armor adjusted with each step, syng with his movements to enhance his speed and agility. But even with all his gear, this fight was going to be a deadly one.

  The gate opened just enough for Ethan to slip through, and inside, chahe outpost was overrun with bandits. Bodies of defenders y strewn across the ground, and the few remaining outpost guards were fighting a losing battle against a well-armed bandit force. The air was thick with the smell of burnial and ozone from ser fire.

  Ethan ducked behind a crumbling wall and assessed the situation. The bandits had broken through on the south side, overwhelming the guards. A narro in the defenses was all that remained between them and plete destru.

  "This pce is about to fall," Ethan muttered to himself. He wasn't here to py hero, but leaving now would meaaih for everyone inside, including himself. He had to act fast.

  Taking a deep breath, Ethan holstered one of his pistols and pulled out a small, metallic sphere from his utility belt. He activated it, tossing it into the fray. The EMP device detonated mid-air, sending out a pulse that temporarily disabled the bandits' energy ons and vehicles within range.

  For a few precious seds, the tide of battle stalled.

  "Let's go," Ethan growled, sprinting toward the breach. He fired his ser pistol with deadly precision, taking down several disoriented bandits who were scrambling to reactivate their ons. His shots were rapid and trolled, striking at the exposed parts of their armor. Each hit was lethal.

  As Ethan closed in on the bandits' main line, a hulking figure emerged from the smoke—a bandit captain, covered in heavy armor and wielding a psma axe that glowed menagly in the dim light.

  "So, you're the one messing up my pns," the captain snarled, swinging the axe toward Ethan with brutal force.

  Ethan barely dodged the first blow, feeling the heat of the psma bde searing the air where he had been standing just moments before. He tered, sshing at the bandit's exposed side with his psma dagger. The bde cut through the armor like a hot khrough butter, but the captain shrugged off the wound and came at Ethan again.

  "You'll have to do better than that!" the captain roared, swinging the axe wildly.

  Ethan ducked, rolled to the side, and fired point-bnk at the bandit's helmet. The shot cracked the visor, and the captain staggered backward, momentarily blinded.

  Ethan didn't wait for the move. With a swift motion, he lunged forward, driving his psma dagger into the gap between the captain's chest pte and neck armor. The energy bde hissed as it met flesh, and the bandit colpsed, his axe falling uselessly to the ground.

  Before Ethan could catch his breath, more bandits poured into the breach. This wasn't a ragtag group; these were fighters outfitted with high-grade tech. Whoever was funding the Bck Sun Syndicate had deep pockets.

  Ethan's mind raced. He couldn't just keep pig them off one by one. He o shift the bance of the battle. Quickly.

  "Iris, get me an updated map of the outpost's yout," he ordered, already sing his surroundings.

  His information tablet fshed to life as Iris dispyed the schematics. Ethan noticed a series of fuel tanks he perimeter fence, partially hidden behind some rubble.

  "If I ighose tanks, I take out a good k of their reinforts," he thought, formuting his pn. "But I've only got one shot at this."

  Ethan sprioward the tanks, zigzaggiween cover as sers zipped past him. He returned fire as he moved, dropping bandits with well-pced shots to buy himself some time. His armor absorbed several gng hits, but he ighe pain, fog on the goal.

  Once he reached the tanks, Ethan wasted no time. He set a timed charge on the rgest one, calibrated to give him enough time to get clear before the explosion. Then, he dashed back toward the ter of the outpost, shouting to the guards as he passed.

  "Fall back to the inner defehe south wall's going down!"

  Some of the remaining guards looked at him with disbelief, but they didn't have time tue. The bandits were closing in fast, ahan's pn was their only hope.

  Just as the bandits breached the wall in full force, the charge detonated. A massive explosion rocked the outpost, sending a shockwave through the battlefield. Fmes erupted from the fuel tanks, ing the advang bandits in a fiery inferno. The outpost shook as debris flew in every dire, and the bandits' assault ground to a halt as chaos engulfed them.

  The tide had turned.

  Ethan wiped the sweat from his brow, his chest heaving. The explosion had bought them time, but the outpost was still on the brink of colpse. He turo see a few remaining guards holding the line, battered but alive.

  As Ethan surveyed the survivors, his gaze nded on a familiar face among the meraries. He blinked in surprise.

  "Malek?" Ethan called out, walking toward the man.

  Malek looked up, his face smudged with soot and blood, but reition fshed in his eyes. "Ethan?" He grinned despite the chaos around them. "I'll be damned, I didn't expect to see you here."

  Ethan smirked, holstering one of his pistols. "Last I saw you, we were sharing drinks at the guild. What brings you to this mess?"

  "Same as you, I suppose. Got myself a tract, only to end up in the middle of this disaster," Malek said, breathing heavily. "Didn't expect things to go south this fast."

  "Yeah, this is no ordinary raid," Ethan replied, his tone more serious now. "Bck Sun's behind this. Looks like they're stepping up their game."

  Malek nodded grimly. "It's worse than I thought. I've been fighting here for days, and these bandits… they've got military-grade ons. Whoever's pulling the strings has serious bag."

  Ethan frowned. He knew Malek from the guild, had shared drinks and merary stories with him, but seeing him here, in the middle of such a dangerous situation, was ued. Malek wasn't the type to back down from a fight, but the iy of the attack surprised even him.

  Before they could discuss more, the outpost's ander appeared, limping slightly but still holding his on at the ready.

  "You saved our hides," the ander said, his voice gruff. "But there's more at py here than just these raids. The Syndicate's movements are getting bolder, more coordihey're not just after resources, they're after something specific."

  Ethan narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

  The ander wiped his brow, gng toward the horizon. "We've got ihat a group of survivors from another outpost, they know something. But they've gone missing. If we don't find them, we won't know what the Syndicate's really pnning."

  Ethan's mind raced. This was bigger than just a supply run. The Syndicate to something, and if he didn't act fast, the entire sector could be in danger.

  "I'll go after them," Ethan said, already thinking through his move. "Where are they?"

  "Last we heard, they were heading toward the old mining tunnels," the ander said, pointing toward the distant mountains. "But that's deep in uncharted territory."

  Ethan g Malek, whed. "Looks like I'll be stig around a bit longer," Malek said with a half-smile.

  Ethan grinned, g him on the shoulder. "Good. I could use the help."